And so the war on general computing continues. Were you looking forward to ARM laptops and maybe even desktops now that Windows 8 will also be released for ARM? I personally was, because I'd much rather have a thin, but fast and economical machine than a beastly Intel PC. Sadly, it turns out that all our fears regarding UEFI's Secure Boot feature were justified: Microsoft prohibits OEMs from allowing you to install anything other than Windows 8 on ARM devices (the Software Freedom Law Center has more).

I don't know about Thom but I don't care about Ipad because I firmly believe its days of market dominance are numbered and being a luxury gadget it will ultimately occupy the same niche as macs. The remaining majority of market is to be grabbed and I'm afraid MS is poised to get there eventually and won't tolerate any competition. This move only confirms that.
MS is always about absolute market dominance and unification that works mostly to its advantage.